Garner's Amazon facility to employ 1,500, on pace to open by late 2020

GARNER, N.C. (WTVD) -- Grab your vests and hard hats. Construction is well underway in Garner on the Triangle's first large-scale Amazon fulfillment facility.

"As you look through the first floor you're looking at 20,000 tons of steel," said Robert Packett, regional director of operations.

The facility will be 700,000 square feet.

"It's going to be amazing. Fifteen-hundred jobs with industry leading pay at $15 an hour. Benefits day one," Packett said.

But this huge piece of land off of Jones Sausage Road is no stranger to massive operations. In 2009, an explosion at ConAgra closed Garner's largest employer, leaving a nine-year economic vacancy until now.

"This project is a form of recycling. Finding a way to reuse this property and bring it back to life," said Michael Scott, NC Division of Waste Management.

Crews are still working on the infrastructure so the building is empty now. Eventually each floor will have products sold on Amazon and robots will help people pull orders that come into the facility.

"We try to be as close to our customers as possible. We have that Prime promise and those quick delivery times. And that only helps that by being closer to the customer," Packett said.

A building rising from the ashes of what once was -- a new facility for a new beginning.

The facility is expected to be finished by the 2020 holidays. If you are interested in one of those 1,500 jobs, they're not yet filled, as the company isn't quite at the hiring stage.